Gulf Coast Snowy Plover – Nikon D810, handheld, f6.3, 1/1500, ISO 250, Nikkor 80-400mm VR at 400mm, natural light
Snowy Plovers are the smallest plover in North America with two recognized subspecies. On the Gulf Coast I would see the eastern subspecies that are found east of Louisiana, they are also known as the Cuban Snowy Plover.
Because of their pale coloration and diminutive size Snowy Plover can be easy to overlook or not even see since they blend in so well with their habitat. Last year I saw my first western Snowy Plover at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge but it was so far away on the flats that I could not get a high quality image, just a few documentary images. It is on my bucket list to obtain images of the western subspecies. Both subspecies are on the decline because of habitat destruction and other human disturbances.
This Gulf Coast Snowy Plover was photographed at Fort De Soto County Park in Florida and the park was the first place I had ever photographed this species. I didn’t see them often but when I did I found them to be wonderful subjects. They might be tiny, delicate looking but Snowy Plovers are long-lived, one was recorded to be 15 years and two months old.
As many of you know I have been working on moving my images to a new gallery format and as soon as I finish moving my Snowy Plover images I will have completed moving all the shorebird images, and there were a lot of them.
Life is good.
Mia
I think that we really need is a decline in the human population, for the sake of the environment, all other species and, ultimately the human race itself…it cannot keep growng mindlessly at the same rate it is now without dire consequences. I know this isn’t a popular concept, but at some point we have to face reality and level things off.
YES.
Beautiful photo, Mia.